Server, Information Communication Terminal, Product Sale Management Method, and Storage Medium and Program Transmission Apparatus Therefor

ABSTRACT

A product retail sales management server for managing the retail sales of a product across a communication network comprises: a retail sales management module for managing the retail sales of the product; a price update module  13  for dynamically setting the price of the product in accordance with rules and the retail sales state of the product and in accordance with the actual retail sales state of the product when managed by the retail sales management module; and an acceptance module  11  for, upon the receipt of an information request via the communication network, furnishing a request transmission source with the information concerning the product and the price of the product, set by the price update module at the time the information request is received.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 09/863,735, filed on May 23, 2001, which claims priority to JapanesePatent Application Number 2000-155357, filed May 25, 2000, thedisclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a retail sales management system foruse when products are sold via a communication network.

2. Discussion of Related Art

Electronic commerce, involving the retail sales of products and thecontracting out of services using communication networks, such as theInternet, has become a popular and wide spread addition to the retailsales business field. An intending purchaser, when availing himself orherself of the conveniences afforded by electronic commerce, generallyselects a desired product, or a service, by referring to products forsale, or services to be provided, that are listed on a computer screen,enters his or her name, address and telephone number, along with apayment method, and transmits these data to a retailer. This is all thatis required of the purchaser; all other procedures associated with apurchase are handled by the retailer.

The price for a product or the charge for a service is generally set bya retailer. At this time, the retail price is normally determined byadding a profit margin to the actual expenses involved in themanufacture of a product, or in the provision of a service. Further,when determining a price, the popularity a product enjoys among users,and user product evaluations may be taken into account.

There are retailing methods, such as auction sales, where buyers takethe initiative in setting prices. In such a case, however, since thebuyers compete with each other and bid up the price of a product, thefinal price paid may far exceed that which most consumers would regardas appropriate. And since an auction sale is more appropriate when thenumber of intending purchasers exceeds the available supply of aproduct, it is not suitable for general trading.

According to one method whereby the retail price of a product isdynamically established, for a product such as a computer program, theemployment frequency (the number of activations, or the employmentperiod) is recorded and measured, and when a predetermined value isreached, the payment of a charge is requested. According to anothermethod, when a specific time has elapsed following the start of a sale,the retail prices of some subject products are reduced. However, theseretailing methods do not immediately and directly reflect an evaluationsuch as is acquired when a product has been tested on the market and hasbeen compared with other, similar products. During the exchange of dataacross a communication network, user evaluations of content to beprovided may be fed back to an intending purchaser. For example, thenumber of times the content was accessed, or a user evaluation may besupplied as a reference item to facilitate the selection of content. Or,the content may be ranked in accordance with its evaluation oremployment frequency, and thereafter presented to an intendingpurchaser.

However, content evaluation is merely provided as reference matter to beconsidered when a choice is made, and is not used as a basis for thesetting of a price for a product (content).

As is described above, according to the conventional retail salesmethod, when a retailer sets a price for a product or a charge for aservice, a value attributable the popularity of the product or theservice with users, and how they evaluate it may be added to the price.However, when the popularity of a product or service or the userevaluation of it fluctuates over time, a great deal of labor must bedevoted to immediately, and frequently, changing the retail price toreflect marketing realities.

However, if a price is set each time there is a variation in thepopularity or in the user evaluation of a product or service, a lowerprice can be set for an unpopular product or service to increase itsmarketing competitiveness, or a higher price can be set for a popularproduct or service to increase the net profit.

Further, conventionally, when a retailer sets a retail price whiletaking into account the popularity or the evaluation of a product or aservice, only the current popularity or evaluation are taken intoconsideration when the price is selected. However, if along with analtered retail price information were provided concerning trendsaffecting price changes (e.g., how the price will subsequently bechanged), such information would assist auser in appropriately timingthe purchase of a product or the selection of a service.

As is described above, according to the conventional method fordynamically setting the retail price of a product, the price of afrequently employed product is increased and the price of a lessfrequently employed product is reduced. But the conventional method cannot flexibly assign a new retail price consonant with a change in thepopularity or in the overall user evaluation of a product or a service.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide aretail sales management system that, consonant with the level ofpopularity or the user evaluation of a product or service, dynamicallysets a retail price for a product or a charge for a service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, aserver for managing the retail sales of a product across a communicationnetwork comprises: retail sales state management means for managing theretail sales state of the product; price setting means for dynamicallysetting the price of the product in accordance with rules and the retailsales state of the product and in accordance with the actual retailsales status of the product when managed by the retail sales statemanagement means; and product information provision means for, upon thereceipt of an information request via the communication network,furnishing a request transmission source with the information concerningthe product and the price of the product, set by the price setting meansat the time the information request is received.

According to the present invention, a product is any item targeted forbusiness trading (sales) across a communication network. Therefore, inaddition to prices for general goods and digital content, the presentinvention can be applied for the dynamical setting of a charge for aservice.

Further, according to the present invention, a server may also beprovided that does not include the product information provision meansand that dynamically sets retail prices consonant with the actual retailsales states of products.

The server further comprises: price trend information provision meansfor generating, in accordance with the actual retail sales state of theproduct, information concerning trends affecting the changes of theprice of the product, and for furnishing the information to theinformation request transmission source.

This configuration is preferable because an intending purchaser of aproduct can refer to the information concerning trends affecting thechanges of the price of the subject product, and can acquire anappropriate timing for the purchase of the product.

The information concerning the trends affecting the changes of the priceof the product can be arbitrarily set, using content based on the numberof products sold, such as “how much the price will be increased afterhow many more products are sold”, content based on a time element, suchas “how much the price will be reduced at what time”, or content basedon a rank provided in accordance with the popularity or the userevaluation of a product, such as “how much the price will be increased(or reduced) when the rank is incremented (decremented) by one”.

Specifically, a method for setting a price in accordance with the numberof products sold can be employed to increase the profit provided by aproduct that is selling well and for providing a competitive priceprovided by a product that is not selling well. For example, the pricesetting means can set a price for the product by using rules, based onthe retail sales state of the product, according to which the price isincreased as the number of product units sold rises or decreased as thenumber of product units sold falls.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, a server for chargingfor and providing digital content via a communication network comprises:sales state management means, for managing the sales state of thedigital content; price setting means, for dynamically changing a chargefor accessing the digital content in accordance with rules and the salesstate of the digital content and in accordance with the sales state ofthe digital content, which is managed by the sales state managementmeans; and information provision means for presenting to an informationrequest transmission source, upon the receipt of an information requestvia the communication network, information concerning the digitalcontent and the charge for accessing the digital content that is set bythe price setting means at the time the information request is received.

A server can be provided that does not include the information provisionmeans and that dynamically sets the access charge in accordance with theactual sales state of the digital content.

The server further comprises: price trend information provision means,for generating, in accordance with the sales state of the digitalcontent, information concerning trends affecting the changing of thecharge for accessing the digital content and for furnishing theinformation to the information request transmission source.

This configuration is preferable because a user who accesses anddownloads the digital content can refer to the information concerningthe trends affecting the price of the subject product, and can acquirean appropriate timing for accessing the digital content.

As well as for a general product, information concerning trendsassociated with the changing of an access charge, such as the contentsbased on an access count, the contents based on a time element, or thecontents based on a rank awarded in accordance with the popularity orthe user evaluation of a product, can be arbitrarily set.

The price setting means sets the charge for accessing the digitalcontent in accordance with rules and the sales state of the digitalcontent and according to which the charge for an access is increasedwhen the number of accesses of the digital content rises or is reducedwhen the number of accesses falls.

The price setting means sets the charge for accessing the digitalcontent in accordance with rules, which is based on the sales state ofthe digital content, according to which the charge for an access isincreased when the rank awarded the digital content, which is consonantwith the popularity or the evaluation of the digital content, isincremented, or the charge for an access is reduced when the rankawarded the digital content is decremented.

According to the present invention, an information communicationterminal is provided, for accessing a product retail sales managementserver across a communication network and for purchasing a productoffered by the server, whereby an information request is issued to theserver in order to obtain information concerning the product and theprice of the product; whereby the information concerning the product andthe price of the product, and information concerning trends affectingthe changes of the price are received after the server has accepted theinformation request; and whereby, when a user has examined theinformation, as needed, and has determined to purchase the product, apurchase request to that effect is transmitted to the server.

Further, according to the present invention, a product retail salesmanagement method, for managing the retail sales of a product inaccordance with a purchase request that is issued, via a communicationnetwork, by a server connected thereto, comprises the steps of: managingthe retail sales state of the product; dynamically setting the price ofthe product in accordance with rules and the retail sales state of theproduct and in accordance with the actual retail sales status of theproduct; and furnishing information concerning the product upon thereceipt of an information request via the communication network, andfurnishing the price set for the product at the time the informationrequest is accepted.

The product retail sales management method further comprises, after thestep of furnishing the price of the product, a step of accepting apurchase request for the product that is issued after the informationconcerning the product and the price of the product have been provided.

The product retail sales management method of the invention furthercomprises the steps of: generating, upon receipt of the informationrequest, information concerning trends affecting the changes of theprice of the product in accordance with the retail sales state of theproduct. At the step of furnishing the information concerning theproduct and the price of the product, the information concerning thetrends affecting the changes of the price of the product can also befurnished.

According to the present invention, a storage medium can be provided onwhich reading means of a computer stores a computer-readable programthat permits the computer to perform the processes that correspond tothe steps of the product retail sales management method.

In addition, a program transmission apparatus can be provided thatcomprises: storage means for storing the program; and transmission meansfor reading, from the storage means, and transmitting the program.

This configuration is preferable because a computer that executes theprogram can perform product retail sales management, includingdynamically setting the price of a product in accordance with its retailsales state of the product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the general configuration of a retailsales management system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a product retailsales management server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example structure for an initial setuptable used for the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example structure for a pricedetermination policy table used for the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example structure for a current pricetable used for the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example structure for a price trend tableused for the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example structure for a retail saleshistory table used for the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an acceptancemodule according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a retail salesmanagement module according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a price updatemodule according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a price trendupdate module according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example input screen used for theembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the state of the input screen after apredetermined time has elapsed since the state shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the initial states of the respective tablesfor an example operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing tables in which the states of the contentsin FIG. 14 have been changed.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing tables in which the states of the contentsin FIGS. 14 and 15 have been changed.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the initial states of the respective tablesfor another example operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing tables in which the states of the contentsin FIG. 17 have been changed.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing tables in which the states of the contentsin FIGS. 17 and 18 have been changed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described indetail while referring to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the general configuration of a retailsales management system according to the embodiment. In this embodiment,the retail sales management system can be used to provide variousproducts and services; however, to simplify the explanation, generalgoods and services are collectively described as products, and theretail sales of digital content, such as music, is especially employedas an example. Further, the Internet is employed as a communicationnetwork.

In FIG. 1, the retail sales management system for this embodiment iscarried out by a product retail sales management server 10 for theretail sales of products across the Internet. The product retail salesmanagement server 10 receives a request from a user terminal 30, aclient, returns an input screen file as an interface, and accepts fromthe user terminal 30 the entry of data concerning the purchase of aproduct.

In FIG. 1, when the user terminal 30 issues a product informationrequest (101) to the product retail sales management server 10, theproduct retail sales management server 10 returns, to the user terminal30, an input screen file (102) in which is written informationconcerning the product for sale, and the user terminal 30 displays aninput screen based on the input screen file (102) that is received fromthe product retail sales management server 10. On the input screen,information concerning the product for sale and the current retail pricefor the product are displayed.

Then, the user designates a desired product by referring to the inputscreen, enters necessary information, and uses the user terminal 30 totransmit a purchase determination command (103) to the product retailsales management server 10. Upon the receipt of the command, the productretail sales management server 10 returns, to the user terminal 30, anotification (104) confirming the reception of the purchase procedures.

The product purchase processing is the same as the electronic commerceprocessing used to purchase an ordinary product via the Internet. Inthis embodiment, it should be noted that, since the retail price of theproduct is dynamically set, when the product information is transmittedas the input screen file (102) the retail price of the product isdefined as the current price. Therefore, when the product is to bepurchased after a specific time has elapsed since product informationwas furnished, the processing for the provision of the latest retailprice of the product can be added. That is, the user terminal 30transmits a product purchase request (105) to the product retail salesmanagement server 10, and receives from the product retail salesmanagement server 10 the latest retail price (106). If a predeterminedtime has elapsed since the product retail sales management server 10received the purchase determination command (103), the server 10,instead of accepting the purchase procedures, may return the latestretail price (106).

In this arrangement, the functions of the product retail salesmanagement server 10 can be performed by a web server, and the inputscreen is prepared as a web page. Then, when at the user terminal 30data is entered in the web page, the product purchase procedures areaccepted.

Further, in this case, the user terminal 30 uses a web browser todisplay the web page.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the productretail sales management server 10. In FIG. 2, an acceptance module 11accepts a product information request (101) from the user terminal 30. Aretail sales management module 12 manages the history of the retailsales of the product. A price update module 13 manages the retail priceof the product. And a price trend update module 14 manages the trendsassociated with the changing of the retail price of the product.

A database 20 is used to manage the product and its sale, and an initialsetup table 21, a price determination policy table 22, a current pricetable 23, a price trend table 24, a retail sales history table 25, and aranking table 26 are stored in the database 20.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example structure for the initial setuptable 21.

Various information for determining the price of a product is stored inthe initial setup table 21. In the example in FIG. 3, a product ID, adependency element for determining the retail price, the lowest price,the highest price and the currency unit are stored in the initial setuptable 21. The dependency element is used to determine the price of aproduct and a change in the price. The number of sales in FIG. 3indicates that the price will be changed when a predetermined number ofproduct sales have been recorded. That is, since digital content, suchas music or video data, is downloaded once every time it is sold, theprice is changed in accordance with the sales count. For a product or aservice other than digital content, the price can be changed inaccordance with the number of units that have been sold or the number oftimes the service has been provided. In addition to the sales count inFIG. 3, the dependency element can be the retail sale frequency, whichindicates the number of retail sales (units) processed in a specificperiod of time, or a ranking based on an arbitrary concept, such as aretail sales ranking or a popularity ranking based on predetermineddata. Since for the sale of music, there is a web site that providesrankings representative of the popularity of musical pieces, rankinginformation obtained by tying up with the site can be employed as thedependency element.

The lowest price and the highest price are set so that the price of theproduct will not fall below or rise above a specific value. When acertain product is especially popular and purchase requests areconcentrated on that product, if the number of purchases is set as thedependency element, the price of the product will increase endlessly.However, when the price has increased until it is too high to beappropriate for the product, the number of purchase requests will fall,and this is not an acceptable condition for either the seller and thebuyers. On the other hand, when the popularity of a specific product islow and the no trading history has been accumulated for it, a pricewhereat there is neither a loss nor a profit must be set based on themanufacturing cost of the pertinent product. Therefore, a reasonableprice range should be determined for the product. However, these dataare not requisite, and one or both of the lowest and the highest pricesmay not be set as desired by the seller.

Since the entry for the currency unit is set while taking into accountthe convenience it offers for trading, this is an arbitrary setting.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example structure for the pricedetermination policy table 22.

In the price determination policy table 22, the policy for determiningthe price of a product is set for a corresponding dependency element inthe initial setup table 21. For example, when the number of retail salesis set as the dependency element in the initial setup table 21, a retailsales count dependency policy was set, such as “increase the price by 10yen when there have been twenty sales of the product”, or “reduce theprice by 10 yen when there have been no sales of the product for 120minutes”. Similarly, when the ranking is set as the dependency elementof the initial setup table 21, a ranking dependency policy isestablished, such as “increase the price by 10 yen when the rank isincremented by one”, or “reduce the price by 10 yen when the rank isdecremented by one”. Further, when retail sales frequency is set as thedependency element for the initial setup table 21, a retail salesfrequency dependency policy is entered, such as “increase the price by10 yen when the retail sales frequency (the number of retail sales(units) handled in a predetermined period) is increased by 10%” or“reduce the price by 10 yen when the retail sales frequency is reducedby 20%”. It should be noted that the parameters (the count, the ranking,the retail sales frequency, etc.) in the policy described above, and theunit for the price change (10 yen) can be arbitrarily established.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example arrangement for the current pricetable 23.

The product ID and the current price of the product are stored in thecurrent price table 23. In addition, the currency unit for the price isstored as needed, e.g., when a purchase request originating in a foreigncountry is accepted via the Internet.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example structure for the price trendtable 24.

A condition for a next price change is stored in the price trend table24 consonant with the dependency element in the initial setup table 21.For example, the number of retail sales is set as the dependency elementin the initial setup table 21, and a condition such as “increase theprice of the product after five more sales (Rest_C 5)” or “last time theproduct was sold (Last Access_C)” is set as a parameter until the priceis changed. Further, when the retail sales frequency is set as thedependency element in the initial setup table 21, a condition such as“increase the price of the product when it is sold five or more times aday (Freq_C 5)” is set as a parameter until the price is changed. Inaddition, the time condition can be set as a parameter, and a conditionsuch as “maintain the current price until 12:59 in the afternoon (Next-T12:59 PM)” can be designated. The numerical value for the count, thefrequency and the time for each condition can be arbitrarily set.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example arrangement for the retail saleshistory table 25.

The retail sales time and the price of the product at that time arestored in the retail sales history table 25. The total number of retailsales of the product is also managed in this table. And in addition, IDinformation for purchasers of the product may be stored in order toprovide after sale service.

When the ranking information is set as the dependency element in theinitial setup table 21, a rank (the retail sales count rank orpopularity rank) corresponding to the dependency element is stored inthe ranking table 26. In this embodiment, a site for obtaining theaggregate for the ranking may be provided for the product retail salesmanagement server 10 that provides a product retail service, and uniqueranking may be determined. Or, the information for ranking performed byanother web site is obtained, depending on a product, and may be storedin the ranking table 26. When the product is music or video, theinformation is obtained from the site established to provide rankingsfor the popularity of music pieces or films, so that the price of theproduct can be set based on more general ranking information.

The operations of the individual modules will now be described. First,the operation of the acceptance module 11 will be explained.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the processing performed by theacceptance module 11 in FIG. 2.

When the acceptance module 11 receives a product information request(see 101 in FIG. 1) from the user terminal 30 (step 801), the acceptancemodule 11 examines the current price table 23 to obtain the currentretail price of the requested product (step 802). Then, the acceptancemodule 11 inquires of the price trend update module 14 the trendsassociated with the changing of the price of the product (step 803). Theacceptance module 11 prepares the input screen for the purchase of theproduct in accordance with the current retail price obtained at step 802and the information concerning the price change trends received from theprice trend update module 14 at step 803. And the file for the inputscreen (see 102 in FIG. 1) is transmitted to the user terminal 30 (step804). A detailed description of the input screen will be given later.

During this processing, the acceptance module 11 examines the pricetrend table 24 to directly obtain information concerning the pricechange trends, but also inquires of the price trend update module 14 thetrends associated with the changing of the price. This is done becausesince the information for the trends associated with the changing of theproduct price varies in accordance with the retail sales state of theproduct and the elapsed time, the user terminal 30 should be providedthe latest information.

When the user terminal 30 receives the data file for the input screen,it then displays the input screen. Thereafter, to purchase a desiredproduct, a user enters data on the input screen displayed by the userterminal 30, and uses the user terminal 30 to transmits a purchasedetermination command (see 103 in FIG. 1). At this time, since at theleast, a specific time will have elapsed between the time the inputscreen file was received and the time the purchase determination commandwas issued, the retail price of the product may have changed since theinput screen file was received. In this case, when the product retailsales management server 10 accepts the purchase determination command(corresponding to step 801), before finally accepting the purchaserequest, the server 10 may perform the processes at steps 802 to 804 andtransmit the latest retail price to the user terminal 30 (see 106 inFIG. 1).

A script may also be displayed in the input screen file transmitted tothe user terminal 30 in order to request the periodic transmission ofthe latest price and the price change trends, so that for updating, theprice and the price change trends are periodically transmitted by theproduct retail sales management server 10.

The processing performed by the retail sales management module 12 willnow be described.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the processing performed by theretail sales management module 12.

The retail sales management module 12 monitors the operation of theacceptance module 11. When the retail sales management module 12 detectsthe receipt by the acceptance module 11 of the product purchasedetermination command and the acceptance of the purchase procedures(step 901), the retail sales management module 12 updates the retailsales history table 25 (step 902). Then, in order to determine whetherthe price should be changed for this retail sale, the retail salesmanagement module 12 calls up the price update module 13 and shifts theprogram control to it. Thereafter, the processing is terminated (step903).

The operation of the price update module 13 will now be described.

The price update module 13 operates periodically, or in accordance witha call by the retail sales management module 12, and updates the currentprice table 23.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the processing performed by theprice update module 13.

The price update module 13 is activated when it is called up by theretail sales management module 12, or when a predetermined start time isreached (step 1001). Then, a policy PO is obtained from the pricedetermination policy table 22, and a change condition C, which iseffective until the retail price of the product is changed, is acquiredfrom the price trend table 24 (step 1002). The information required todetermine whether the current price table 23 must be updated is alsoacquired in accordance with the policy PO and the change condition C(step 1003). The information required for the determination differs,depending on the definition of the policy PO.

When the policy PO for changing the price in accordance with the numberof units sold is defined, information concerning the number of productunits sold must be obtained from the retail sales history table 25 inorder to ascertain how many units have been sold. Further, when thepolicy PO according to which the price is changed as time elapses isdefined, the current time must be obtained from the system.

In this manner, required information is acquired in accordance with thecontents of the policy PO. When all information that it seems may beused for the determination has been acquired, only necessary informationis employed in accordance with the contents of the policy PO.

Then, the obtained information and the policy PO are employed todetermine whether the current price table 23 should be updated (step1004). Then, when the policy PO definition is that the price must bechanged in accordance with the number of retail sales unit, and thenumber of retail sales unit at which the price must be changed isreached, it is ascertained that the current price table 23 must beupdated.

When it is ascertained that an update of the current price table 23 isnecessary, thereafter, a new price based on the policy PO is calculated,and the price of the product in the current price table 23 is updated(steps 1005 and 1006).

When the current price table 23 has been updated in this manner, or whenan update is not required, the price trend update module 14 is called upand program control is shifted thereto. The processing is thereafterterminated (step 1007). When the current price table 23 is updated andthe price of the product is changed, the price trend table 24 must bechanged in accordance with the new price. Even if the current pricetable 23 need not be updated, a condition that is effective until theprice has been changed may be altered when the product has been sold orwhen a predetermined time has elapsed. Therefore, the price trend updatemodule 14 determines whether the condition is changed, and if necessary,updates the price trend table 24.

The operation of the price trend update module 14 will now be described.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the processing performed by theprice trend update module 14.

The price trend update module 14 is activated upon the receipt of theinquiry from the acceptance module 11 (see step 803 in FIG. 8) or inaccordance with the call issued by the price update module 13 (see step1007 in FIG. 10) (step 1101). Then, the price trend update module 14obtains, from the price determination policy table 22, the policy PO fordetermining the retail price of the product, and acquires from the pricetrend table 24 the change condition C that is effective until the retailprice of the product is changed (step 1102).

In accordance with the policy PO and the change condition C, the pricetrend update module 14 also obtains the information needed to determinewhether the price trend table 24 should be updated (step 1103). Theinformation required for the determination differs, depending on thedefinition provided by the policy PO.

When the policy PO for changing the price in accordance with the numberof retail sale units is defined, the condition “change the price afterseveral more units have been sold” is changed each time the product issold. Therefore, information concerning the number of retail sales unitsmust be acquired from the retail sales history table 25. Further, whenthe policy PO as defined is for the changing of the price as timeelapses, the condition “change the price several minutes (or severalhours or several days) from now”, or the condition “change the price ata specific hour (or on a specific date)” is changed to reflect eachpredetermined time. Therefore, the time information must be obtainedfrom the system.

In this manner, required information is acquired in accordance with thecontents of the policy PO. Further, all the information that it seemsmay be used for the determination may be obtained, but only necessaryinformation may be employed in consonance with the contents of thepolicy PO.

The obtained information is employed to determine whether the updatingof the price trend table 24 is required (step 1104). That is, a check isperformed to determine whether the information obtained at step 1102satisfies the change condition C obtained from the price trend table 24.When the information does not satisfy the condition, e.g., if the policyPO for changing the price in accordance with the number of retail salesunits is defined and the number of retail sales units is 0, theprocessing is terminated without updating the price trend table 24 (step1105).

When the information obtained at step 1102 satisfies the changecondition C acquired from the price trend table 24, e.g., when thepolicy PO establishes that a price in accordance with the number ofunits purchased and when the number of purchases is equal to or greaterthan one, the price trend table 24 is updated in accordance with thepolicy PO (steps 1105 and 1106).

When the price trend update module 14 is activated upon the receipt ofthe inquiry from the acceptance module 11, the price trend update module14 transmits, to the acceptance module 11, a response stating whetherthe price trend table 24 has been changed and including the resultsobtained by changing the price trend table 24 (step 1107).

As is described above, since the price trend update module 14 isoperated in the same way as is the price update module 13, and is alsoactivated when the acceptance module 11 has received a request forproduct information, the latest information can always be stored in theprice trend table 24.

In this embodiment, the price trend update module 14 has been activatednot only upon the receipt of the inquiry from the acceptance module 11,but also by being called by the price update module 13. However, theprice trend update module 14 may be operated separately from the priceupdate module 13. For example, when the policy for changing the price ofthe product as time elapses is defined in the price determination policytable 22, information concerning the trend associated with the changingof the price is varied, as needed.

Therefore, it is preferable that, in order to update the price trendtable 24, the price trend update module 14 be operated more frequentlythan the price update module 13.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example input screen displayed by theuser terminal 30. In an input screen 40, music provided as digitalcontent is defined as a product, and the price is to be changed inaccordance with the number of purchases (the number of downloads).

As is described above, when a product information request is issued bythe user terminal 30 to the product retail sales management server 10,the acceptance module 11 of the product retail sales management server10 prepares the input screen 40, and transmits the file for the inputscreen 40 to the user terminal 30. The user terminal 30 then uses abrowser to display the input screen 40, and waits for the input of databy a user.

In FIG. 12, the input screen 40 includes a product information displaycolumn 41, for displaying information concerning a product, a pricedisplay column 42, for displaying the price of the product, a pricetrend display column 43, for indicating the trend associated with thechanging of the price, and a purchase button 44, for transmitting apurchase determination command. In the example in FIG. 12, music pieces1 to 3, recorded by a singer A, and music pieces 1 to 3, recorded by asinger B, are displayed as product information and are presented in theproduct information display column 41, while the prices of theindividual music pieces are displayed in the price display column 42.Further, the number of purchases (the number of downloads) remaininguntil the product price is next raised is displayed in the price trenddisplay column 43. This value, together with a message at the bottom ofthe input screen 40, “raise the price 10 yen every 20 downloads”,represents the price change trend. That is, the user understands thatwhen the number of product information downloads equals the numberdisplayed in the price trend display column 43, the download count willreach 20 and the price of the product will be raised 10 yen.

When the user selects a desired music piece (a product) on the inputscreen 40 and clicks on the purchase button 44, the purchasedetermination command is transmitted to the product retail salesmanagement server 10. Further, if needed, when the purchase button 44 isclicked on, a purchase procedures screen may be displayed and the userrequested to enter his or her name and address and to select a paymentmethod. When a predetermined time has elapsed between the time the inputscreen 40 was displayed and the purchase button 44 was clicked on,instead of the transmission of the purchase determination command, amessage may be displayed requesting the provision of the latestinformation for the price and the price change trends, and the data onthe input screen 40 may be updated.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the state of the input screen 40 when apredetermined time has elapsed since the state shown in FIG. 12 wasacquired.

In FIG. 13, the prices for the individual music pieces and the pricechange trends (information indicating the remaining download countbefore the price is raised) are changed. For example, it is apparentthat music piece 1, recorded by singer A, has been downloaded 15 times,and that the price will be raised after another five downloads.Similarly, it is apparent that after the price of the music piece 2,recorded by singer A was raised five times (the music piece 2 wasdownloaded 100 (=20 5) times), the music piece 2 was downloaded ten moretimes, and its price will be raised to 140 yen after another tendownloads. In this manner, more profits can be obtained with a popular,good selling product by raising its price, and a competitive price canbe provided for a poor selling product by reducing its price.

The input screen 40 shown in FIG. 12 and 13 is merely an example, and solong as the same data entry is available, the structure is not limitedto the one shown. For example, the purchase button 44 may not beprovided and the screen may be shifted to a purchase procedure screen byclicking on a desired music piece. Or, a script may be written in theinput screen file, so that the price of the product or the price changetrends can be automatically updated.

The information presented in the product information display column 41should also be appropriately displayed in accordance with the kind ofproduct. For example, if the product is not digital content but anarticle, an image of the article or an introductory statement for thearticle may be provided.

A specific operation performed for this embodiment will now bedescribed. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the initial state of each tableprepared for a predetermined product. Since the price of a product ischanged without depending on the rankings, the ranking table 26 is notpresent. It should be noted that in FIG. 14 the formats shown in FIG. 3to 7 are not employed for the respective tables and that only brieflistings of the contents are displayed.

In FIG. 14, in the initial setup table 21, the number of units (DealCount) of the product (Product ID 01) purchased is set as the dependencyelement (Dependency_(—)1). In the price determination policy table 22,the number of units (Up counter_C) that must be purchased to raise theprice is set at 20, and the price rise range (Up Range_C) is set at 10yen. In the current price table 23, the initial value of the retailprice (Price) is set at 1000 yen. In the price trend table 24, thenumber of remaining units that must be purchased before the price rise(Rest_C) is initially set to 20. The retail sales history table 25 isset to Null because the sale of the product has not yet begun.

Assume that one purchaser bought one product (Product ID 01) atpredetermined time (11:00). FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a table whereinthe contents are changed by this purchase.

In FIG. 15, the retail sales history table 25 records 11:00 (written asT(11:00)) as the purchase time (Purchase Time) of the product (ProductID 01), and records 1000 yen as the purchase price (Purchase Price).Accordingly, as is shown in FIG. 10, the price update module 13 isoperated and whether the current price table 23 must be updated isdetermined. In this example, since the number of units (Up Counter_C)required to raise the price in the price determination policy table 22is set at 20, and the number of remaining units (Rest C) before theprice is raised in the price trend table 24 is set at 20, no pricechange is performed.

The price trend update module 14 is operated and whether the price trendtable 24 must be updated is determined. But since one product (ProductID 01) unit has been purchased, the price trend table 24 is updated, andthe number of units remaining before the price is raised is decrementedby one, to 19.

Assume that a predetermined time has elapsed (11:30) and the totalnumber of purchased product (Product ID 01) units has reached 20. FIG.16 is a diagram showing a table in which the contents are accordinglychanged.

In FIG. 16, the retail sales history table 25 records 11:30 (written asT(11:30)) as the purchase time (Purchase Time) of the product (ProductID 01), and records 1000 yen as the purchase price (Purchase Price).Accordingly, as is shown in FIG. 10, the price update module 13 isoperated and whether the current price table 23 must be updated isdetermined. In this example, since the number of units purchased reaches20, that is the number of units (Up Counter_C) required to raise theprice in the price determination policy table 22, and the number ofremaining units (Rest_C) before the price is raised in the price trendtable 24 is reduced to 0. Thus, the current price table 23 is updatedand the retail price of the product (Product ID 01) is changed. Sincethe range (Up Range_C) of the price rise in the Price determinationpolicy table 22 is 10 yen, the retail price (Price) in the current pricetable 23 is increased 10 yen to 1010 yen. Therefore, the product(Product ID 01) is thereinafter purchased at 1010 yen.

The price trend update module 14 is operated and whether the price trendtable 24 need be updated is determined. In this example, the price trendtable 24 is also updated based on the updating of the current pricetable 23. Specifically, since this occurs immediately after the currentprice table 23 is updated by the price update module 13 and the newretail price is obtained, the number of units (Up Counter C) required toincrease the price in the price determination policy table 22 is againset to 20.

Another example operation for this embodiment will now be described.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the initial states of the tables concerninga predetermined product. In this example, since the price of the productis changed without depending on its rank, the ranking table 26 is notpresent. It should be noted that in FIG. 14 the formats shown in FIG. 3to 7 are not employed for the respective tables and the only brieflistings of the contents displayed.

In this example, the price update module 13 and the price trend updatemodule 14 are activated every ten minutes to determine whether thecurrent price table 23 and the price trend table 24 must be updated.

In FIG. 17, in the initial setup table 21, the number of units (DealCount) of the product (Product ID 01) that are purchased is set as thedependency element (Dependency_). In the price determination policytable 22, the number of units (Up counter_C) that must be purchased toraise the price is set at 20, and the price rise range (Up Range_C) isset at 10 yen. Further, in this example, when there have been no product(Product ID 01) purchases for a predetermined period of time, the retailprice of the product is reduced. Thus, in the price determination policy22, the time defined as the price reduction condition (Time Limit_C) is7200 seconds, and the range of a price reduction (Down Range_C) is setat 10 yen.

In the current price table 23, the initial value of the retail price(Price) is set at 1000 yen. In the price trend table 24, the number ofunits remaining to be purchased before a price rise (Rest_C) isinitially set to 20. The last access time (Last Access_C), i.e., thetime whereat the count is initially began, is set at 10:00 (written asT(10:00)). And the retail sales history table 25 is set to Null becausethe sale of the product is not yet begun.

After 10:00, the product retail sales management server 10 activates theprice update module 13 and the price trend update module 14 every 10minutes to permit them to determine whether the updating of the tablesis necessary. However, because in each case the time elapsed since theprice trend table 24 was last accessed (Last Access_C) is less than 7200seconds, which is the price reduction condition in the pricedetermination policy table 22, neither the current price table 23 northe price trend table 24 are updated.

Assume that one purchaser bought one product (Product ID 01) at apredetermined time (11:00). FIG. 18 is a diagram showing tables whereinthe contents are changed by this purchase.

In FIG. 18, the retail sales history table 25 records 11:00 (written asT(11:00)) as the purchase time (Purchase Time) of the product (ProductID 01), and records 1000 yen as the purchase price (Purchase Price).Accordingly, the price update module 13 is operated and whether thecurrent price table 23 must be updated is determined. In this example,since the number of units (Up Counter_C) required to raise the price inthe price determination policy table 22 is set at 20, and the number ofremaining units (Rest_C) before the price will be raised in the pricetrend table 24 is set at 20, no price change is performed.

Thereafter the price trend update module 14 is operated and whether theprice trend table 24 must be updated is determined. Since one product(Product ID 01) unit has been purchased, the price trend table 24 isupdated, and the number of units remaining before the price is raised isdecremented by one, to 19, and 11:00 (T(11:00)) is set as the lastaccess time (Last Access_C).

Assume that thereafter the product (Product ID 01) is not purchased for7200 seconds (two hours). Then, (T(Current Time)—Last Access_C) (TimeLimit_C) is established, and thus, the price update module 13 and theprice trend update module 14 update the current price table 23 and theprice trend table 24. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the tables after thecontents have been accordingly changed.

In FIG. 19, first, since the range (Down Range_C) of the price reductionin the price determination policy table 22 is 10 yen, the retail price(Price) in the current price table 23 is reduced by 10 yen to 990 yen.Thus, the product (Product ID 01) can thereafter be purchased at 990yen.

Since the current price table 23 has just been updated by the priceupdate module 13 and a new retail price has just been obtained, theprice trend update module 14 again set to 20, the number of units (UpCounter_C) that are required to be purchased for the price in the pricedetermination policy table 22 to be raised. Further, in order to countthe time again, the last access time (Last Access_C) is set to thecurrent time (written as T(Current Time)), i.e., 13:00.

As is described above, the retail price of the product can bedynamically changed in accordance with the retail sales state of theproduct, and an appropriate retail price can be set in accordance withthe reaction of the market.

As is described above, according to the present invention, a retailsales management system can be provided that dynamically sets the retailprice for a product or a service in accordance with the popularity or anevaluation of the product or the service.

A legend for the symbols is repeated herein for convenience:

10: Product retail sales management server11: Acceptance module12: Retail sales management module13: Price update module14: Price trend update module

20: Database

21: Initial setup table22: Price determination policy table23: Current price table24: Price trend table25: Retail sales history table26: Ranking table30: User terminal40: Input screen

Having described embodiments of the invention it is noted thatmodifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the artin light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood thatchanges may be made in the particular embodiments of the inventiondisclosed which are within the scope and spirit of the invention asdefined by the appended claims. Having thus described the invention withthe details and particularity required by the patent laws, what isclaims and desired protected by Letters Patent is set for in theappended claims.

1. A product retail sales management method, for managing retail salesof a product in accordance with a purchase request that is issued, via acommunication network, by a server connected thereto, comprising:receiving an information request from a user regarding a product;managing a retail sales state of said product; dynamically setting, by aprocessor, a price of said product in accordance with rules and theretail sales state of said product and in accordance with an actualretail sales status of said product; furnishing information to said userconcerning said product upon receipt of said information request viasaid communication network, and furnishing said price set for saidproduct upon acceptance of said information request; and accepting apurchase request from said user for said product that is issued aftersaid information concerning said product and said price of said producthave been provided.
 2. The product retail sales management methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: generating, upon receipt ofsaid information request, information concerning trends affectingchanges of said price of said product in accordance with said retailsales state of said product, wherein, upon furnishing said informationconcerning said product and said price of said product, said informationconcerning said trends affecting said changes of said price of saidproduct is also furnished.
 3. A product retail sales management method,for managing retail sales of a product in accordance with a purchaserequest that is issued, via a communication network, by a serverconnected thereto, comprising: receiving an information request from auser regarding a product; managing a retail sales state of said product;dynamically setting, by a processor, a price of said product inaccordance with rules and the retail sales state of said product and inaccordance with an actual retail sales status of said product; andfurnishing to said user information concerning said product upon receiptof an information request via said communication network, and furnishingto said user said price set for said product upon acceptance of saidinformation request.